Addressing machine



Jan. 27. 1925.

F. DE MlNiCo ADDRESSING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 rml- Filed March 1,524,389 F. DE MINICO DDRESSING MACHINE Filed Marqh 17. 1923. 3 Sheets-Sheet 3,

Patented Jan. 27, 19225 UNITED STATES rannte PATENT oFFicE.

FRANK DE MINICO, OF YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO POLLARD-ALLING MANUFAC- TUBING- COMPANY, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPGRATION OF NEW YORK.

ADDRESS'ENG MACHINE.

Application filed March 17, 1923. Serial N'o. 625,684.

To all whom t may concern-.-

Be it known that 1, FRANK DE Mmioo, a citizen of the United States, and a resi* dent of New York, borough of Bronx, in the county of Bronx and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Addressing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to addressing machines and has for its object to provide means, in a machine of the class specified, for printing on certain selected articles addresses, a character to indicate certain classifications of said articles, such, for instance, as town classification.

With these ends in view and others which will appear later here-in, my improvements comprise features illustrated in their preferred embodiment in the drawings accompanying this specification, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation with the front frame of the machine omitted. Fig. 2 is a plan view corresponding with Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation, partly in section on line 3, 3 of Fig. 2, similar to a portion of what is shown in Fig. 1, and illustrates a step in the operation of the machine. Figs. et and 5 are fragmentary side elevations of portions of what is shown in Figs. v1 and 3 and illustrate steps in the operation of my improved machine. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary bottom plan view corresponding with Fig. 5. .Figs 1 to 3 inclusive are to one scale, while Figs. 4t to 6 inclusive are to a common larger scale.

My present invention is in the nature of improvements in the machine set forth in my copending application for addressing machines, Serial Number 394,517 filed July 7, 1920, and to which reference may be had. rlhe present improvements are particularly directed to the simplification of the mechan ism of the machine of that application.

The machine set forth herein is particularlyadapted for printing on the margin of an article, such as a newspaper, the address of the person vfor whom the article is intended, from one of a series of plates having that address embossed thereon, and which series of plates are hinged together into a chain of plates, and said chain and papers are fed through the machine in coactinfr relation. In Figs. 1 and 2 a chain of address plates 2 comprising a plurality of individual, articulated plates, as a, each having on its outer face a suitable embossed address, not shown, but of a character wellknown in the art, is advanced so as to present each successive plate to printing position by means of drum 5 fixed to shaft 6.

` This drum is rotated continuously through reduction gearing from shaft 8 and which shaft makes one complete rotation for each incremental advance of drum 5. Said plates 4f may be inked by means of some suitable inking device, known in the art but not shown. Below said drum, for supporting' the articles to be printed, are rails 9 and said articles, as N, are advanced from left to right over said rails by means of intermittently coacting pairs of feed rolls, as lower rolls 10, 1() fined to shaft 8, and Lipper rolls 11, 11 mounted for free rotation on the free ends, respectively, of bell cranks 12, 12 turning freely on fixed shaft 13. Said rolls are spaced apart on their respective shafts so as to engage the articles at remote portions transversely thereof. Upper rolls 11, 11 are normally urged to coaction with their respective lower rolls 10, 10 by pull springs, as 14, connecting the upper arms, as 15, of said bell cranks with arms, as 16, adjustably fixed to shaft 13. Other similar pairs of coacting rolls 17', 17 below, fixed to shaft 18, and 19, 19 above, carried by bell cranks 20, 20, turning freely on fixed shaft 21, are provided for advancing the articles over rails 9 after the earlier sets of rolls have performed their functions.

Roll 22 above carried by bell crank 23 turning freely on sleeve 37 of fixed shaft 24, coacts with roll 25 below fixed to shaft 26 for delivering the printed article from the machine. Roll 22 is urged to constant coaction with roll 25 by pull spring 27 which connects the upper arm of bell crank 23 with arm 28 adjustably fixed to shaft 21. Rolls 11, 11, and 19, 19 are lifted intermit tently in unison from coaction with their respective lower rolls by means of eccentrics, as 29, the strap 30 of which has rod 31 extending to the right therefrom and which rod extends through suitable openings in the upstanding arms of bell cranks 12 and 2O and is provided with adjustable nuts 32, 33, respectively, for engaging said arms. Said eccentrics, as 29, are fixed to main shaft 70.

Fixed to sleeve 37 and downreaching therefrom are stop fingers 34k, 34 the operative ends-of which are adapted to be thrust intothe path of the articles N as those articles are advanced through the machine.

- These'iingers are lifted from time to time as required by eccentric 35, the strap 36 of which is connected by rod 38 with upstanding arm 39 fixed to sleeve 37. VSaid eccentric also is fixed to shaft 70.

Directing attention now to the means for printing on certain articles N selected for distinction, printer 40, preferably in the form of al discfof felt or the like, is carried by bell crank .41 mounted for oscillation on stud 1 42 projecting from frame plate 43. Saidplate isl supportedon fixed lshafts 21, 24. Said printer 40 is ypreferably backed 'by inksfsupply case 44. Thek upstanding arm offbell cra-nk 41 is in the nature of a cam arm 'and is preferably provided with antifrictionshoe/15 of hardened steel and said farm isconnected by link 46 with feeler arm 47 -iupstanding from sleeve 48vtu'rning freely on 'fixed shaft 21. Pull spring 49, one end off which is fixed to link 46 and the other eridftol plate 43 is efficient for holding printer 49'n'ornially away from Vthe adjacent rail 9 aridshoet outof the path of hammer 50,

Pin 58 in plate 43 limits the movenient *.offarm 47 to the right. Down-reaching 'fromsleeve 48 is arm 51 having pivoted in-'itsflow'er end at 53 feeler finger 52. Said finger-preferably comprises two members,

body 52 pivoted at 53 as described Aand the finger proper 52, reaching to the left under drum 5, a portion of the operative end of sa'id finger being under l ratchet 54 which forms a-flange or head for one end of said druin. Finger body 52n has rearwardly reaching to the right, arm 52 for engagemeiitiat'certain times in the operation of the machine with pin 55 carried by `arm 56 fixed to shaft 21. The operative end of finger52 is urged upwardly toward drum 5 by pull spring 57. Said operative end of finger comprises feeler 59 adapted for entering one at ay time, pockets, as 61, in said chain plates, and pawl 60 adapted for engagement by one of the teeth of ratchet 54 when said feeler enters one of said pockets, see Figs. 5 'and 6; Those address plates which are adapted for indicating the operation of the selectiveprinter 4Q preferably have a square lportion c-u't from a corner thereof, as

at 61` in v,plates 4, 4"*,best shown in Fig. 6. Drum 5 preferably has cavities, as 62, cut in each plate seat at` the edge of said drum so that feeler 59 is .permitted a sufficient movement into or through plate pocket 61 to insure suitable engagementof pawl 60 by the adjacenttooth of ratchet 54. HammerO is carried by'one arm of bell crank 63 pivotcd at 64 in plate 43, at the right hand end of Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The other arm of said bell crank is pivoted at 65 to the slotted end of connecton-'-66.`Vr The other end of said connection is fixed to strap 67 of eccentric 68 fixed to shaft 70.

The several shafts are gear driven from main shaft 70 as follows: Equal gears 71., 72 fixed to shafts 70 and8, respectively, intermesh and through intermediate gear' 69 fixed to short shaft 7, gear 72 drives equal gear 73 fixed to shaft 18. Gear 74 fixed to shaft 18, through intermediate gear T5 fixed to short shaft 76, drives equal gear 77 fixed to shaft 26. Bevel gear 78 fixed to shaft 8 drives-bevel gear 79 fixed to the lower end of vertical shaft 80, and the upper end of that shaft has fixed thereto worm 81 in engagement with worm .gear 82 fixed to shaft 6. It will thus .be seen that shafts 70, 8, 18 and 26 rotate at the same speed and feed rolls 10, 10, 17, 17, and 25, being of one diameter havevequal surface speeds. lso the timing of shafts `7Oand 6 is such that for each rotation of shaft 70, shaft 6 and drum 5 make a fractional rot-ation equal to one printing plate increment. Also rolls 11, 11, and 19, 19 coact with their respective lower rolls 10, 10, and 17, 17 through about three quarters of each rotation of those lower rolls, during which time of coaction thearticlesare advanced over rails 9.

The operation of my improved machine is as follows: An article or paper N, to be printed with an address, andin some cases with a furtherdistinguishing mark, is advanced onto rails 9 to position N1, Fig. 1, by handor by some automatic feed mechanism of known character, not shown, and during the first cycle of operation of the machine, coacting rolls 10, 10, and 11, 11, respectively, advance the article from said position N1, Fig. 1, through position lN2, Fig.A 3, to lposition N3, Fig. 1 against stops 34, 34, which are at that time in the lowered position of Fig. 1. Rolls 11, 11 are then lifted by their eccentrics, as 29, Fig. 1, leaving said article at rest in printing position. Platen 83 is then raised from the position of Fig. 3 to that of Fig. 1, by means not shown but wellknown in the art, 4thereby pressing the'left hand portion of the article N against the lowermost plate on drum 5, whereby the address on that plate is impressed uponthe article. Usually this completes the printing function ofthe machine and the selective printer 4() remains in the position of Fig. 3 and hammer 50 descends to the left of and without engaging shoe 45, Fig. 3. .iut if the plat-e from which the address is printed, as 4, Fig. 6 is the first of a classification series, such as the first address in a given town, then the last address plate 4 of the precedingclassification series, which is just in advance, of plate 4, Fig. 6, is provided with cutout 6l for the reception of fecler 59 of finger 52, whereby puwl 60 is permitted'torise into the path of the adjacent tooth 84 of ratchet 54 and which llo tooth pushes finger 52 to the right from the position of Figs. 3 and 5 to substantially the position of Fig. 1. This rotation of drum 5 brings plate 4, Fig. 6, into printing position and the endwise thrust of finger 52 swings arm 47 in anticlocliwise direction and thereby, through link 46, swings bell crank 41 in the same direction, whereby printer descends toward the right hand end of article N, Fig. 1, and shoe 45 swings into the path of descending hammer 50, and which hammer presess printer 40 against the article, thereby printing thereupon, Fig. 1. The descent of hammer onto shoe 45 also swings arms 47, 51 slightly farther than the tooth of ratchet 54, through finger 52, has previously swung those arms, whereby arm 52h of nger 52 encounters pin 55,

which throws linger 52 out of engagementA with the ratchet tooth, Fig. 1. y

Usually, when the printing plates have no cutout portions 61, feeler 59 rides over the surface of the successive plates, Fig. 4, and fails to admit pawl 60 into engaging relation with the ratchet teeth.

After the printing has been done platen descends and hammer 50 ascends, thereby permitting spring 49 to return printer 40 to .its idle position, Fig. 3, and linger 52 to feeling position against the chain of plates on the drum. Also stops 34, 34 are raised and rolls 19, 19 descend into coaction with lower rolls 17, 17, respectively, whereby the printed article is advanced to the right into the grip of rolls 22, 25 and by which rolls it is discharged from the machine. Coincident with the descent of rolls 19, 19, rolls 11, 11 descend and in coaction with lower rolls 10, 10, respectively, advance another article from position N1 to printing position N3, Fig. 1, stops 34, 34 descending just before the article reaches said printing position, to locate the article.

l. ln a machine of the class described the combination of a series of printing plates, a drum for advancing said plates serially to and away from printing position, two pairs of upper and lower coacting feed rolls arranged for successive engagement with the article to be printed, means for bringing an article and a plate into printing engagement, means timed with the printing mechanisin for holding said pairs of rolls out of coaction during the operation of said printing mechanism, a stop movable into and out of the path of the article to be printed, and means timed with the printing mechanism for actuating said stop.

2. ln a machine of the class described the combination of a series of printing plates, a drum for advancing said plates serially to and away from printing position, means for advancing articles to be printed to and away from said printing position, means for bringing an article and a plate into printing engagement, a classification printer mounted on one arin of an oscillatable bellcrank, an oscillatable hammer for operatively engaging the other arm of said bellcranlr, and means for moving said other bellcranlr arm into and out of the path of said hammer whereby said classification printer is caused to make an impression upon a predetermined article.

3. ln a machine of the class described the combination of a series of printing plates,

a drum for advancing said plates serially to and away from printing position, means for advancing articles to be printed to and away from said printing position, means for bringing an article and a plate into printing engagement, a classification printer mounted on one arm of an oscillatable bellcrank, an oscillatable hammerl for operatively engaging the other arm of said bellcrank, and means for moving said other bellcranlr arm into and out of the path of said hammer comprising a feeler finger operatively connected with said other bellcrank arm, a ratchet fixed coaXially with said drum and having a peripheral tooth corresponding with each printing plate on said drum, one of said printing plates having a pocket therein contiguous to a tooth on said ratchet, said feeler finger being adapted for operative engagement with said tooth through said pocket, whereby said classication printer is caused to make an impression upon a predetermined article.

4. In a machine of the class described the combination of a series of printing plates, a drum for advancing said plates serially to and away from printing position, means for advancing articles to be printed to and away from said printing position, means for bringing an article and a plate into printing engagement, a classification printer mounted on one arm of an oscillatable bellcrank, an oscillatable hammer for operatively engaging the other arm of said bellcrank, means for moving said other bellcrank arm into and out of the path of said hammer whereby said classiiication printer is caused to maire an impression upon a predetermined article, a stop movable into and out of the path of the article to be printed, and means timed with the printing mechanism for actuating said stop.

5. In a machine of the class described the combination of a series of printing plates, a drum for advancing said plates serially to and away from printing position, means for advancing articles to be printed to and away from said printing position, means for bringing an article and a plate into printing engagement, a classification printer mounted on one arm of an oscillatable bellcrank, an oscillatable hammer for operatively engaging the other arm of said bellthrough said pocket, wherehv said einssifiea" tion printerl is caused to make au impression upon a predetermimd article, a stop movable into und out of thev path of the article to 'he printed, and means timed with the printing' mechanism for actuating said stop.

In witness whereof, I hereb)v afiix my Signature this 1G (lay of March, 1993.

FRANK DE MINICO. 

